Since it was the bridge opening, it was most likely a welder from the site. Those are welding glasses and due to the time period the sweater was probably from service in WW2. A fascinating clip. Thanks for the history tour!
I think that the glasses are what tricks the eye more than clothing. They remind me of a pair of sunglasses I had in the 1980s. ;~). So while they have a logical explanation (welding glasses), my brain automatically associates them with the 1980s.
He has a camera in his hands. My guess is he's a freelance photographer. Those sunglasses are period correct. My father wore sunglasses like that in the early 1940s.
oh that's a good explanation as well. the sunglasses reminded me of victorian sunglasses that had protective bits at the side so you didn't get sut in the eyes when on a steam train.
The "Tiffany Problem" seems an appropriate thing to point out here. It's where the name Tiffany was very popular in medieval Europe but we think it's only a modern name, so having a story with a medieval woman called "Tiffany" would look very wrong to us now. So if jeans are perfectly normal for a working class man in the 1500s to wear, we'd see that as extremely weird in a period drama set then.
There's an absolutely *delightful* couple of videos about "The Tiffany Problem" by CGP Grey: ruclips.net/video/9LMr5XTgeyI/видео.html&ab_channel=CGPGrey . The first video is charming, insightful, full of adorable stick figures in medieval costume...and then in the sequel he loses his mind over dead ends in historical research and it's even better.
My great grandmother apparently couldn’t believe members of the family would wear denim/blue jeans because “that’s what boys who pick up horse droppings on roads and men who collect the nightsoil wear.” She was born in 1891, Australia.
Both of my grandmothers (USA) had a similar viewpoint on blue jeans. My paternal and maternal grandmothers were born in 1910 and 1925, respectively, and both despised blue jeans. My maternal grandmother said that when she was a girl, blue jeans were poor people's clothes, and didn't like us kids wearing them, but also recognized that it was beyond her control; her sons (younger than my mom) also wore blue jeans. My paternal grandmother was a school teacher until the mid-70s, and would buy the craziest clothes for us second-hand, saying, "kids these days wear rags and any old thing, and these are better quality." This was in the late 70s and early 80s, when designer clothes became popular. I thought she was just nuts, until I realized WHEN her last years of teaching were: mid-60s to mid-70s, the hippie-free-love-counter-culture era. My mom said to just tell her thank you, and we didn't have to wear the crazy stuff unless she was visiting. Edit to add, regarding increasing popularity of denim/blue jeans: My dad's younger sister traveled throughout the world in the 70s & 80s, and I remember her speaking of taking Levi's 501s to some European countries, and could sell them for 2 and 3 times what she paid for them here in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
I can't be the only one who thinks an art book collecting images of "time travelers" would be really fun, including information about the history of the garments we think of as so clearly modern.
I love this breakdown of the "time traveler's" clothes and how these garment are older than we suppose. I want the movie where people from the past come forward and are scandalized that their descendants are only wearing underclothes!
@@NicoleRudolph The lower body would be recognisable to them as “fully dressed” (at least in masculine clothes), but the concept of the same shirt being simultaneously considered underwear and acceptable to have on show.
Oh, that would have been one of my grandmothers. I think she was only half joking when I'd wear a tank top & shorts in the summer, & she'd ask if I was going "bathing" (as in bathing/swim suit).
I remember some movie from the 90's where the main character looked exactly like her great aunt and ended up back in the 30's, having to pretend to be her. She was appalled by the floral dresses and wore long johns and overalls to school, scandalizing her teacher.
The moment I learned that white Comverse high tops almost visually indistinguishable from modern white Converse high tops were the standard US Army training athletic shoe during World War 2, I stopped trusting my natural perception of how “recent” commonly worn modern clothing pieces are.
That's how I got away with wearing converse to gym class. I pointed out it was the orginal athletic shoe. Hence, Chuck freakin' Taylor!! Know history, gain power!
Those kind of fabric trainers were common as everyday shoes in the 4oies and 50ies and for PE with white tshirts and blue shorts as seen on period dramas made by other people of my parents generation.
@@flickslandan8262 Yep. Been around forever. English plimsolls, which were basically the Keds CVO with or without laces, were invented in the late 19th century for beachgoing.
One thing I've noticed is that the 'time travelers' are typically men. Like, yeah, sometimes a woman will be pointed at for having something in her hand, but the ones people really go crazy for are often men wearing tshirts and shorts or other working men's clothes (or swimsuits and other athletic clothes like you noted). And I think that's partly because men's hair is a bit more 'timeless', in that there's only so many things you can do with short hair as compared to long hair and wigs. So you will find men with scruffy "modern" hair, especially in working and athletic situations.
My personal HC is that women time travelers pay a lot more attention to detail and try to fit in. Men don't usually pay attention to things like fashion (stereotype. I know) so they're more likely to half-ass it and really stand out
There is also the film where an older lady is holding something up to her ear that can't quite be seen. Time traveler-phone, period correct lady- small hearing horn.
idk, I saw a photograph in an art book of a lady with long hair down, center part, curling slightly at the ends, sitting on a blanket (in a field? park? edges were over exposed) with a toddler in a white sleeveless romper*, while wearing a light colored, button up blouse gathered at cuffs with a bit of lace at a collar and a twill skirt that looked EXACTLY like some clothes my mom had in her closet from the 1970s. I could have been forgiven for thinking that was my mom with my older cousin and they they used b&w film because of expense just based on photos from around our house. Yeah, the art book photo was from the 1890s. The skirt was likely longer but that didn't show up thanks to the casual sitting position. *I have since found out it was likely a singlet, but the resemblance to a romper my daughter wore 110 years later is why I term it that.
Also the fact that men could wear a more varied wardrobe depending on their activities whereas women were not allowed to wear much either because of modesty, societal standards, and restricted activities.
I was born in 1957 and my mother in 1934. I still remember swiping my fathers undershirts and wearing jeans that mother insisted were indecent. You see, to her “ Ladies trousers close (zip) on the side or the back but NOT in the front”.
My mom was born in 55; her mom said the same thing to her all the tine. They lived on a farm in Saskatchewan; they rairly got store bought cloths in the city. My mom didn't get her first pair of frount zipper pants untill grade 12 when she bought them with her own money when visiting her sister at college in the city.
I was born in 1960, my mom in 1936 & I remember having similar fights with her over wearing jeans--Levis--to school in the 70s. In her mind Levis jeans were ranch or play clothes & not proper for school (our family had a working farm/ranch at one time) My mom had always gone to private Catholic school so had always worn a uniform for school & grew up with stricter ideas about what clothes were worn for which activity. I kept trying to explain to her that teens in the 1970s no longer had "play" clothes & school clothes & work clothes & church clothes etc. Funny thing is, the last decades of her life you couldn't get that woman out of sweats no matter what the occasion lol.
I love this! My grandmother was born in 1921 and insisted on me wearing dresses and skirts. She was once scandalized to find I wasn’t wearing a slip. I got her number, though - not long before she passed, she was high on her pain medication and confessed to me that she used to sneak out with her older sister, who was a flapper - then she did the Charleston to prove it 😆 Imagine! A little 86 year old lady in a flowery nightgown, lifting it up so I see her knees as she danced around the room. Grandma had great gams! She also scandalized ME by confessing that another man was in love with her and he came to her on her wedding day and was on his knees pleading with her not to marry my grandfather.... the outcome of that little flap of butterfly’s 🦋 wings might have meant life or death for me! She left me all the love letters she saved from her and my grandfather, before they married.
My mom was born in 1954, her mom in 1911. But grandma was a seamstress and dressed my mom in the latest fashions customized to suit my mom's body type-- so long as it's wasn't jeans, she HATED sewing denim! Mom once told me the only store bought / non-hand-me-down clothes she wore before college were socks, nylons, bras, and jeans.
My mother was born in 1922, and I suspect (though she'd never admit it) that she wore her brother's trousers a time or two to do winter chores on the farm. I'm #7 (1958) and by the time I came along, if I wasn't bleeding from an artery or getting arrested, she was pretty calm. Unless there were shoes on the table, @Nicole Rudolph.... *(I've never been arrested.)
When you talked about the zip up sweater as being more casual than a suit coat, it remined me of Mr. Rodgers always removing his suit coat and dress shoes to change into tennis shoes and a zip up sweater when he came home.
I was in college in the 1970s, so about 45 years ago. Both then and now I wore very simple clothing, solid colors, basic cuts. Most of what I wore then could be worn today without looking at all out of place. [A solid cotton knit pullover shirt and a pair of Levi's ... today we'd call the exact same items a plain t-shirt and jeans.] When we look at high fashion, we see a lot of change. But when we look at lower and middle class basic clothing that was intended to last may years ... the styles don't change much at all. At least, not until fast fashion.
And vice versa! Using those correct undergarments (and convincing accessories in particular) means you can sometimes take modern garments and restyle them fairly convincingly as vintage, if they have the right cut. (Rachel Maksy has done some interesting stuff like this?)
My family has LOTS of photos of my grandfather in the early 40s wearing just this sort of outfit, sans collar all the time, while clowning around with his friends in college. He appears to have worn collared shirts to class and dances only. They look so timeless now.
My dad had a zippered sweatshirt in the 40’s. It was a coarser fabric than modern fleece, and no hood, but it was definitely recognizable as a sweatshirt. He wore it until it fell apart in the late 60’s.
Hockey! The gentleman is wearing a hockey sweater. I live in BC and was born and raised here. We are hockey fans in this province much like the rest of Canada is as well. The gentleman in the picture is wearing sweater with the letter "M". Years ago in BC, we had the Vancouver Millionaires hockey team and their sweaters were graced with a "V". Today we have the Vancouver Canucks with a "C". In the past, the city of Montreal had the Montreal Maroons, which were defined by the letter "M". We don't know if he was a resident of the area or came in from out of province or even from another country. However, what he is wearing looks very similar to the sweaters worn by the Montreal Maroons. And "hoodies" in the 1960s and '70s in my area of BC were called kangaroo jackets. And flip flops were called thongs.
My Dad grew up in Montreal in the 1920's. He had a photo of his father wearing the exact same jersey. A maroon M on gold hexagon that continued to a gold horizontal stripe on the sleeves. He said it was the Montreal Maroons before they switched to a plain white M. My kids in here in Alberta do not believe that we ever called them kangaroo jackets when I was a kid. To me. thongs were leather sandals, flip flops were rubber. My son calls pop, soda. I'm so depressed.
Not to mention, he's from BC. A lot of people here dressed way more casually way sooner than other parts of the world because we're relatively isolated - a lot of logging camps, work camps, small towns, etc. The suit and tie look died out HARD here quite soon after that photo was taken, and wearing a suit with a tie is quite unusual to this day, whereas back east it would just be a sign of someone with an office job.
It's very interesting that you mention the cowgirl/cowboy thing in the 30's/40's advertisings for jeans, because at least here in Spain, we call jeans "vaqueros", which literally is the spanish for cowboy.
There’s also a popular brand of jeans over here in the states called Wrangler that is a call back to the whole pants for cowboys thing They also still use the cowboy pants thing pretty heavily in their advertising
Some countries call them farmer - like in Hungarian they're literally 'farmer" as in the English word as a loan word. In Finnish it's "farkut" which comes from "farkarit" which comes from "farmer"
@@Beaverthing That phrase sounds so drag queen! 😂 Immediately brings to mind BDSM leather chaps or something similar, rather than unglamorous heavy denim dungarees 🤭
3:50 I wrote a short story like that when I was in school. My character was sitting on the edge of a fountain in the ruins of Pompeii in the 1920s he blinked and opened his eyes to see people around him and the buildings suddenly rebuilt. He talks to some people and realises that he is in the city a day or so before the volcano was going to erupt, he tries to warn someone but trips and wakes up back in his own time with his sister asking if he is okay as he has fallen off the fountain. He puts it out of his mind dismissing it as a dream but as he is walking away he puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a single Vespasian sesterce. I wrote it as a exercise after a school trip to Sorrento, I thought it was a fun little story and my Latin teacher liked it. Sorry I know this has very little to do with the video but I hadn't thought of that story for years
I feel like the 1920s depression played a key role in "blue jeans" as we know it today, being more readily spread among the middle class. Because, everybody lost their jobs, got pay cut, or couldn't find work. The pants were low cost with high durability, it was inevitable that they would become widespread used across most of America during that time. You wore clothing for much longer lengths of time compared to with today's social climate regarding clothing. Those clothes HAD to last, because what money you did have, you had to make due with for food/housing.
@@azure113 the depression was 1920s with a stock market crash. My grandfather was raised during the 1920s. The 1930s is the tail end of the depression era, following into the start of WW2.
Fun fact: according to the book “No Idle Hands” in the 1920s sweaters were sometimes referred to as “golfers” in the US. And if you look at 1920s sweater adverts, there are lots of women holding golf clubs.
Jimmy Carter was photographed in jeans in the white house (1976) and it was scandoulos! I was in a very conservative community and while we were allowed to wear a pants suit to dinner, jeans (which I thought looked tons bettér) were out of the question. To give some context, I'm now 77 and use old jeans to make corsets.
25:59 this is the correct answer. Most likely, he’s a student. I found an inventory list from the Williams College store in 1910 which lists a very similar sweater set to what this guy is wearing. And stapled to it? an article from the local paper where someone urges the school store to stop selling the sweater sets because the students have taken to wearing them without collared shirts (and the article writer finds this highly improper). So nope, not a time traveler: just your average slovenly student.
The blue jean part of the video reminds me of a book we read back in sixth grade - the main character was a younger girl who, coincidentally enough, got transported back in time to the American civil war. The thing that comes to mind with this video from the book was that due to the main girl wearing blue jeans and having short hair, she was seen as a young working class boy by the people she meets in her time traveling shenanigans. It basically taught me how fashion has changed so much over time which was neat haha.
I can testify to the fact that the term "hoodie" is very recent. While I was growing up in 70s and 80s, hooded sweatshirts were very, very popular. I don't remember hearing the word "hoodie" until the early 2000s. In fact, I was showing my daughter some old pictures of me in a color-block hooded sweatshirt when I was about 12 (so we're looking at about 1979) and she asked "You had hoodies back then?" I replied that they had been around before I was born, but we didn't call them that. With very big eyes, she asked, "What did you call them?" She was very disappointed when I shrugged and said "sweatshirts." She simply couldn't fathom that we didn't have a separate name for a hooded sweatshirt.
Here in Saskatchewan Canada; we have a slang term for "hoodie ". We call it a BUNNY HUG. The term was invented arround 1978; very popular in the 80s and 90s. Most kids/ teens/ young adults these days even in Saskatchewan say HOODIE because BUNNY HUG is not a cool term 🤦♀️ You know you live in or are from Saskatchewan and born between 1970 and 2000 if yoy call a HOODIE a BUNNY HUG 🤣
There's a photo of me at age 2 (in 1966) wearing a little red zippered hoodie jacket and sweatpants matching set on a camping trip. I think in my teens we called them "sweatjackets" if they zipped up and had hoods, while a 'sweatshirt' was just the simple crewneck pullover style.
I grew up in So Cal and remember hearing "hoodie" for the first time; it was always called a zip sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt before that. I graduated from high school in '99, so the term emerging in the '90s feels about right.
The wild man in his undershirt story reminded me of how folks where I live will often say “so-and-so was just in his shirtsleeves.” Which I think originally meant “without a jacket” but in current context means in just a t-shirt.
The main photo being discussed - he looks so modern because he is NOT wearing a hat. A hat on top of that outfit would (correctly) date the whole thing effortlessly.
This reminds me of a rant I once wanted to post on Facebook. You know the image comparing Cary Grant to a man from "today" in tight jeans shorts and a messy man bun captioned to the effect of "look how terrible today's fashion is, what went wrong" ? My point was that you can't compare styles from 60+ years apart and across class lines, and how "we" often put things of the past on a pedestal. I even made similar memes comparing other fashions (1870s gentlemen v 1950s greaser teens, Louis 14 v upper class man's outfit from the late 1700s since most people wouldn't know they were from different centuries, 1980s businessman v 1980s rock star) I also had a section about how jeans started as a working class garment that got adopted by counter culture movements, yet today we see them as a stylish staple because of said movements. Another section was about how fashion simply changed more gradually before the 1900s. Ultimately, I don't have the credentials to do the whole thing justice but I would love to see you cover the topic someday.
Also, Cary Grant’s “look” was dictated by the studio; even the casual “by the pool” photos are press pics. So we have no record of what he looked like when actually rigged for casual…
I didn't hear 'hoodie' until the early 2000's when my kids started calling it that. It was frustrating because 'it's just a jacket.' Sometimes we'd call it a 'sweat jacket,' after the 'sweat shirt.' Had those all my life and I'm a 70's-80's kid.
It is pretty strange looking at certain picture and seeing people do things similar that we are so used to today, a sort of unintentional anachronism. The video "The Among Us Effect" by TREY the Explainer talks about Pareidolia, (when we see faces and pattern when there isn't one), specifically when the game Among us became really popular and people started seeing the crew members everywhere, even in ancient artwork. While not the exact concept, looking at somebody in an old painting seemly using a smartphone and seeing an Among us figure on a trashcan gives me a similar feeling.
When it comes to trousers/ pants, my gran remember when they where allowed to wear trouser at work, they were wide legged and the top was a tunic that went down to her legs, this was 1938 Sweden. She loved it, and her male co-worker couldn't up skirt her when she was running upp ladders. My grandfather at the same time, on my dad side own 2 pair of jeans due to his work. All photo except his engagement photo and wedding photo during 1938- 1945 , he is seen in jeans and white west or jeans and wool shirt. I have picture of my maternal grandfather in a t-shirt and shorts at 1920, standing on his hands with legs stretched wide, he was flexible man.
Yes. Levi Strauss was a Jewish entrepreneur who made the "first" riveted "dungarees". I didn't know jeans went that far back because my very conservative grandfather didn't have a pair to his name in the 70s-90s, the time we were both alive. So I though jeans were like tie-dye shirts and long hair on men. Funny Story: I saw a KKK Klansman with a sign that said "I HAVE SUPERIOR JEANS"...so much for the Master Race and I bet he had no clue his Levis were invented by a Jew, so double-dumb-ass to you, sir!
As a person who was a teen in the eighties, I can say that when my kids in the 2000s said "hoodie" I didn't know what they were talking about. We had them but they didn't really have a name. Of course, I now use the term hoodie often. ☺️
I love these surveys of historic clothing. It makes me start thinking...I wonder when the shawl was replaced by the sweater. Shawls are more practical because they layer more easily, but they really restrict movement. So much to learn! We are very lucky to have you to do all this research. Thank you.
I'm not sure it's a matter of one replacing the other as knitwear for outerwear kinda picks up mid-19th century regardless of style. There are fabric cloaks and other textile items prior, but knitting really took off as a popular hobby around then because of increasing free time. I'm guessing they were just both options depending on what you needed to fit under them!
I've heard that sweaters started becoming the norm in the 1910s. The exact explanation for why seems to vary. It's generally explained as some combination of knitting becoming a popular pastime during WWI, more women taking on jobs during the war that needed improved arm mobility, and young women ditching corsets, but needing an additional warmth layer without the corset to help regulate body heat. Obviously sweaters existed earlier than this (think 1890s cycling sweaters), but these tended to be more athletic wear than everyday wear.
ah, you've pointed out why I don't wear shawls. If you bunch them up around your neck you can't see the design, if you wear them around your body your neck gets cold and the shawl sort of falls off. There are so many beautiful lace shawl patterns and I knitted two and I just don't wear them because shawls are really annoying :(
@@ffotograffydd Yeah, we still have them in Canada. They're just a really handy garment and easier to tweak the coverage they provide, and therefore the warmth, than something with sleeves
Nicole, thank you! This was such a cool video idea, you managed to take a clickbaity meme and turn it into this fascinating and detailed exploration of different clothing elements. I know getting people's attention online is difficult when you want to deliver some nuance and substance, but this was such a perfect jumping-off point - you always seem to find the perfect balance between silly/shareable/attention-grabbing topic but make it a truly insightful video essay, at a relaxed and relaxing pace. I have ADHD, all I can say is this formula WORKS for me. I can easily latch on to your 'hook' and then watch your videos all the way through, loving every minute. You're _really_ good at this. I'm glad you're on this platform.
We do , of course, have rules for dressing appropriately these days too, but usually that's not a conscious thing. Here in Sweden there's been a heated debate for decades whether boys should be allowed to wear baseball caps indoors in school, or pretty much 24-7. This is more or less making some people go mad with rage. What these people probably don't know is that their bad feelings are based in medieval rules of behaviour. When facing an authority ( the boss, rich people, women etc) a man should always be bare headed to show respect. Now, the fun part is when I have been asked by upset elderly men to show some respect and remove my baseball cap indoors, at for example, a fancy restaurant, I've been having a really hilarious moment! Because I'm a middle aged woman, and if we are to actually FOLLOW these ancient rules, to ask an adult woman to remove her headwear is UNTHINKABLE and sooooo extremely disrespectful. Lol. I'm always waiting for the day when the schools will be filled with respectful, we'll behaved boys, wearing no hats. And row after row of girls, wearing the exact same hats instead....
Right?? XD My husband keeps wanting both our son and daughter to take their hats off indoors "because it's rude," and I have a hell of a time not going, "Actually..." XD
Interestingly this is where the media goes the other way around. At least with American schools I'd expect a higher percentage of fictional than real ones have a "no hats in classrooms/the building" rule since baseball caps are a challenge to light in live action and to animate, so banning them gives a convenient explanation for their absence which is really to make it easier to see the actors' faces.
Yeah at my old job I (a cis woman) worked food service and so wore a hat as part of my uniform and I was busy serving a bunch of people when an orchestra was playing the national anthem and some old dude grouched that I didn't take my hat off. I wasn't quick enough but in my head I'm like dude, I'm a girl. That's not a thing.
In high school and college (early 80s), I worked for County Seat, a casual clothing store known for selling Levi’s. I got curious about the logo on the leather patch featuring the horses pulling apart a pair of jeans. So I wrote to the relatively new show “Fight Back! with David Horowitz”. I wanted to know how accurate the Levi’s claim was that their construction could withstand being pulled apart by two horses, just like the patch. I got an answer! Not only did I get an answer from the show, they recreated the horse test from the Levi’s patch for the program. Spokespeople from Levi Strauss & Co. even came on the show to relate the history of the patch design and the company itself, as well as to participate in the test. Well, the seams and belt loops held! The pants actually tore in the fabric down the front of the legs, but not until they been REALLY stressed by the strength of those two work horses. The Levi Strauss company was so pleased that their pants had passed the test originally staged by Levi himself in the 1870s that they sent me vouchers good for two pairs of original Levi’s 501 or 505 jeans. Since men’s jeans didn’t fit on my definitely curvy female body, I used the vouchers to get my beau two new pairs of jeans. He wore them for *many* years, true to claim of Levi’s quality.
My grandfather had to wear jeans to high school in the late 30s and felt it was humiliating. Wearing jeans to school implied that you had nothing better to wear. Of course, he was also the kind of kid to hop a boxcar and go get a tattoo while also in school. I think a lot of the attitude you referenced in the 50s and 60s could be tied to a working class chip on the shoulder.
In the 1930s, some of my mother's classmates went to school barefoot. Her mother also brought some of her classmates home with them and fed them. (She was the teacher, and she had wages a lot of moms didn't have, and seven little garden hands to keep her in produce....)
This reminds me of a visit to a textile museum I went to as a kid (this was like... 20~ years ago so memory is not the best). The person that held a sort of tour/lecture was talking about denim and indigo as a dye, and told us that while it's often counted as being a "thing™" since 1870's no-one actually knows how long this has been around. They also talked about how some theories are that it was also old sailcloth that was re-purposed at the start. And we did get to do tie-dye with indigo (and everyone had to wear gloves because of the pigments). I remember one classmate accidentally got some of the dyebath on their shoes and those stains never came out.
I find it SO interesting that the boom of athletic or leisure wear at the turn of the century is pretty much what constituted our every day modern outfits, because I feel like certain athletic and measure trends at the NEXT turn of the century constitute what a lot of us wear and think is cute now. 1999-2000 the most common outfit is probably t-shirts and jeans but cool artists and rappers were wearing big crew necks and sweatpants, and the socialite faces of fashion like Paris Hilton were wearing matching velour sweatsuits, and I feel like all of that probably lead into the fabletics matching tank/leggings thing that is so so in right now
wow, so well done. thank you especially for talking about screen printing and serigraph for sign and printing development. The screen printed T-shirt being a new development just over a half century ago yet people know it better than for printing and signage and art prints. The thing you did not mention is that screen printing is so popular because it is the ONLY printing method that does not require the image to be reversed during development of the image. you don't have to worry about backward spelling for example so it is simple and easy for anyone to try!
When I studied archaeology in the 1990s, the older archaeologists talked of how old archaeologists were dressed at excavations when they were young - suits and white shirts, and they managed to keep clean!
This reminds me of the current remake of All Creatures Great and Small, where on James's first interview with Siegfried, he's required to go into a really mucky horse paddock in his tweed suit and brogues. My dad was a large animal vet here in Illinois from 1960 on, and he always had workboots (or workboots AND rubber outer boots) and coveralls (a lot of the time, JUST coveralls over his underwear!). So there's a big shift in 30 years (and, admittedly, opposite sides of an ocean!).
14:26 those Levi's only cost $1.10 and that was the expensive pair! I remember expensive designer jeans being popular in the late 70s early 80s like Jordache and Gloria Vanderbuilt (sorry if my spelling is off). Some were plum coloured or wine red. Only the more affluent kid's in school wore them. I wore Lee's and my brother Wranglers or generic brands and they were blue. We both liked our jeans. I had a cropped pair I wore ALL the time. It was just the first time I was aware of what upper-class or affluence looked like in my own little world.BTW I wish I could sew a pair of the older high waisted jeans for myself, but I would have to upgrade my sewing machine first. And I've said it before and will say it again! Love everything you do Nicole, especially how well you research and present your findings.
Another thing that stands out for me is not just the clothing, but the fact that HE'S A FULL HEAD TALLER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. Also, I'd be interested in a vid about the history of sunglasses, because I was under the impression that outside aviators, people in the fourties didn't wear them.
15:22 Two things really stand out for me: One, those jeans cost between $22 - $25 because they were made by factory workers who (I certainly hope!) earned a living wage; two, I had no idea "bell bottoms" were popular before the 1960s, which betrays my age! 16:40 LOL, I remember that Sears catalog on the right!
I knew sailors wore them earlier because of being in theatre, doing a summer of G&S operettas so costumes. But - the first time in 1970s low-rise zip-up bell bottoms from the Army Navy store was - painful & nearly traumatizing. Def *not* the same as a broadfall!
Although jeans were allowed in the dress code at my high school (when I attended in the late 70s), my parents didn't allow me to wear jeans to school. In fact, I think I owned only one pair of jeans (which were not Levi's) until the time I left for college. Also, in discussing sweater vs. jacket - at 13:28, the 1881 Cincinnati Enquirer clip mentions a "wamus"--a new term to me--but according to Merriam-Webster, it was a belted cardigan-style work jacket, made from KNIT or woven fabric. So the idea of a sweaterish, presumably less-constructed outer garment goes at least to latter 19th century.
Thank you for the history lesson! A part of me has always wanted to see contemporary fashions reproduced in old materials and techniques, and these "time travellers" are tickling that fancy. On a side note, the Keanu Reeves time-travelling photos are my absolute favourite. xD
I love your videos, so interesting and entertaining at the same time! Your story about zippers made me realize that in my language (German) we tend to be much more literal. A zip or zipper in German is "Reißverschluss" (a rip fastener), a bra is "Büstenhalter" (a bust holder) , a slip is "Unterkleid" or "Unterrock" (an underdress or underskirt), and a cardigan is "Strickjacke" (a knit jacket). When I was a child in the 1960s, we still differentiated between "Unterhemd" (a usually sleeveless and knitted undershirt) and "Oberhemd" - not an overshirt but the collared shirt worn by men under their jackets, with a tie of course. It seems to me that the term "Oberhemd" has now died out and the garment is simply called "Hemd", even if you wear it over an Unterhemd.
We do have a photo of my dad’s parents when my dad was really little in the early 50s, his dad wearing a t-shirt and jeans, his mom wearing a very simple dress with stripes. It’s not shocking those were things much sooner. Plus the family photos from the 20s of various relatives in their bathing suits always amused me growing up and were much shorter/tighter fitting than what’s shown in this video already by then. It’s always funny to me realizing 2-piece bathing suits were already a fairly common thing in the 30s, but they were.
About the cold/damp -> tuberculosis, I was told that they developed that belief because a lot of people had latent TB and would only become symptomatic after something compromised their immune health - like an extended period of being cold and wet. Anyone know if this is plausible?
It's possible as far as I am aware. I was recently screened for latent TB prior to starting a new immunosuppressant, as they can re-activate it. Apparently lots of people have latent TB and have no idea.
Since there was no central heating most houses were cold and damp. Also one of the early treatments for tb was being sent to a warm dry environment it seemed logical to assume a damp cold environment was one of the causes.
Being 'cold and damp' also usually coincides with it being winter. Which is when we are exposed to cold viruses constantly, which will make it more likely for other, latent infections to succeed in overwhelming the immune system. People would also spent less time outside in the sun and be exposed to smoke from wood or coal fires constantly. Plus the food would be less fresh and varied. A cold and wet environment is also great for mold...and that can do a number on your health.
I've lived in California all my life, so I learned a bit about the gold rush and how Levi got it's start during then. But I never made the connection of "oh of course blue jeans existed before 1849". They didn't just pop into existence in San Francisco. Wonderful video as always.
Fantastic. Really enjoyed this one. I remember seeing an old black and white photo of a group of cowboys and how flash they were dressed. No John Wayne dusty brown. One was wearing a stripped long sleeved tshirt. I wore the same thing in the eighties. And of course Coco Chanel championed ‘jersey’ knit fabrics as a comfortable more utilitarian style of dress. ❤
So many of these comments add to the historical context of clothing from memories of family! ❤ (B 1948) I remember making slacks patterns with side seam zippers... But I love jeans. And my current 3 pairs of Converse sneakers (red, pink, neon yellow) - so comfortable and they get lots of compliments.
There is an absolutely fantastic American Experience episode called "Riveted" that digs further into the history of denim jeans and how they came to be such an iconic garment.
My grandma, (b 1912) always called them "dungarees" & said it was a reference to work wear of men cleaning up the "dung" from horses & other farm animals. We only wore them as "play clothes" after school.
"Dungarees" comes from the Mumbai provenance of Dungri, where a denim-like fabric was produced. Similar to "Calico" coming from the Indian city of Calicut.
A dungaree to me is a full body outfit you wear t-shirts underneath. I've never heard anyone call jeans dungarees, even though they are made out of the same material. But I guess that's how people now see it.
@@Xegethra you're British. In the US, dungarees are still coarse cotton work pants, aka jeans, and bibbed denims are overalls, because you wear them...over...all. I know you reserve that term for what we call coveralls. Funny language, English....
@@MelissaThompson432 We'd often call an overall a boiler suit or some such, not made of denim and not in the same shape of our dungarees. Coverall isn't one I hear a lot of, but when I have it's been neither of those things either, more like a plastic wrap. It is funny sometimes yeah. One thing we call something else, but that other word used is used yet again for this and then some people use them interchangeably. All similar stuff by and large so it's not worlds apart.
My grandmother was born in 1900 and wouldn't even consider denim until the 1970s. She literally called it "worker clothes." Loved hearing the history of all of this!
When you are explaining that jeans are synonymous with working class, explains a lot. I was never person who owned jeans, indeed I hate them, and currently only have one pair. I know that I am middle class, but mentally, I have considered myself to be bourgeoisie. This mentality has not necessarily been my undoing as I am currently in Baby Step 4!
I like how the picture was taken in Vancouver, and your caption points out that Montreal was "nearby", even though sans plane ride it would take 3+ days to get to Montreal from Vancouver. I get that it's the same country, and maybe he is from Montreal, just funny to see someone call a city practically on the other side of the second biggest country in the world "nearby".
Lol yes. The M on his garment was probably an old hockey sweater like in the photo. I would say that it was more then 4 days. By train it is 24 hours to Edmonton. It was another 4 days by train to Montreal from there. Driving it in the 70s took me 4 days from Montreal to Edmonton and those were big new highways then.
I recently went to the Gene Autry museum's Dress Codes exhibit, which is about the history of different garments (blue jeans/denim, flannel shirts, aloha/Hawaiian prints, and leather fringe) and their relationship to society. it was one of the most interesting exhibits i've ever been to!
The military knit undershirt with buttons was probably the first shirt called a Tshirt, it has a Dominant T shape within its design with the button panel being the column of the T. the latter button-less tshirt kept the same name and later the abdomen of shirt adapted itself to the column with the sleeves and shoulders being the bar.
I listen to a podcast called The History of American Food, and they mentioned Indigo as well as a very very common and cheap dye-- their mention was about sugar, and how sugar cones were almost universally wrapped in blue paper because that was the cheapest option.
I enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. About the zipper I am proud to say I'm from Slovenia, where one of the brilliant inventors Peter Florjančič (1919-2020) was from. Well he passed away in 2020, 101 years old. One of his inventions was also a plastic zipper (1948). He is a person you can google.
The twist is he is not a time traveler, but everyone else there is a time traveler, dressed for the era they visit, who went back to see if this guy was a time traveler.
Super interesting topic! Now that you've done all the research it would be cool to see a video with more of those "time travel" pictures debunked and explained.
When I was a child in the mid to late 70's the iteration of the hoodie was called a kangaroo jacket. Interesting video. By the way, my younger coworker has a pair of sunglasses that look exactly like the glasses the man in the photo is wearing.😎
Thank you for this fascinating delve into casual clothing items. I really enjoyed watching it - and teasing my husband about his penchant for "vintage" formal shirts 😂
It's so weird knowing that I lived clothing history. I remember being an early teenager in the 70's and my parents looking for "cheap" jeans - the LA Levi outlet store being a new thing and we deliberately took a trip to go to the store so we (as a family) could save money on clothing - seeing that the outlet store were about $15 for a pair of jeans where the regular stores had jeans for $30 - 40.
On that fabric pricing sheet, is Barateen from the Spanish ‘barato’ meaning cheap/‘baratear’ to haggle for a lower price? TIL it comes from the Greek ‘prattein’/πρἀττειν which I presume it evolved into the English word ‘barter’. I could be completely wrong of course but I found it interesting just the same.
I’ve always wanted to go to a costume party dressed up as that “time traveler” just to see if anybody there has a niche enough interest in historical/vintage fashion and as much of a useless amount of knowledge on internet phenomena as I do to recognize who I’m dressing up as. Most likely not, but a boy can dream lol
Interesting. My dad was born in 1927. I was norn in 1977. My entire life, I wore jeans, T-shirts and "hooded sweatshirts" as we called them here in Detroit. My dad grew up wearing "knickers" (short pants) and collared shirts until he went into the Navy in WW2. The standard issue for day to day aboard ship was "dungarees" (jeans) and plain white T-shirts and later on, shirts with the ship name printed on. After the war he liked the look and feel and just rocked that for the rest of his life. Obviously, he could clean up well, but that was the standard. Thanks for sharing.
So athleisure wear goes further back than we thought. I also noticed the word "leggings" in quite a few sources you featured in this video, though I suppose the meaning of that word has drastically changed quite a bit over time like the words "denim" and "jeans" have.
Yep! More often seen as leg coverings, not unlike spats or gaitors, but without the overshoe portion. My favorite term find on this video was the 1929 jeans advertisement that says "bell-bottom"! Had no clue it was so early a term.
I was digging through a 1913 knitting book the other day and found a pattern to knit "leggins" for a child. Not sure if that's how "leggings" was originally spelled or a typo or what, but it made me smile.
@@NicoleRudolph bell-bottoms were even older than that! they were designed for sailors in... the 1800s. As far as i know they were in existence prior to 1820 (though I can't remember if they were given that exact name), something I found out also long ago (around 1978-79) after reading a *really* badly written Michael Moorcock fantasy novel (my one and only by him) in which one or more sailors were referred to as wearing 'stylish flared pants' which felt so gratingly super-nope (there were a LOT of other crappy things in the story) in a novel about ancient lands and magic swords I went on a massive research binge. The research was a far more exciting adventure than the novel. Guess who ended up studying history at college a few years later... Love your 'I researched this topic and here's what I found' videos. No surprise.
@@stiofanmacamhalghaidhau765 Definitely early 19th century, with the Royal Navy officially adopting them as part of the uniform in the mid-19th century. I don’t know if the were referred to as bell-bottoms in the UK, but the wide-legged trousers were adopted because they could be rolled up easily and so were highly functional for sailors.
Very informative, Nicole. My usual answer to the time traveller pictures is much easier than the history of jeans,T-shirts and hoodies. It is photoshop. Super easy to produce and present online or printed offfrom an online photo. As for the undershirt, as a child in the 60's, assoon as the temperatures dropped, I was told to put my undershirt on - pretty much through the school year. Just recently while seeing if I could put on more layers for warmth, I remembered that was what we did in the 1960's. So I put on a T-shirt under my other layers. I do recall the T-shirt becoming something to wear by itself. It was roughly used in the late 60's with the hippy years. If you were a hippy, or wanted to look like one, the T-shirt atleast was better than running around naked. It became the normal thing to wear and bandsstarted to print T-shirts for their fans. The youth culture (baby boomers) took control of adult clothing. No one wanted to be square. Hoodies, hmm, I seem to recall a hooded coat in the late 60's. It was awesome since hats and mittens were usually lost. A hood was part of the windbreakers in the mid to late 60's. Jeans were commonly used for children and farmers. By the time I hit high school it was normal to wear jeans all the way to adults.
Another great, thorough and interesting video. On an unrelated note, I am often so in love with the blouses you wear in your videos and wish I knew where you got them, what fabric they're made of, if you made them yourself and if so, where I could find the pattern etc. I'd love a video breakdown of your personal wardrobe if possible.
I wear jeans, a flannel wood cutter's shirt, wool socks with white heels & toes and a wool beanie (toque) on a daily basis. All of this is totally the norm here in my Northern Canadian 🇨🇦 town and also all were worn here a century ago.
People who think he's a time traveler definitely aren't wrong for feeling like he doesn't fit in though. He certainly doesn't fit the landscape of the photo... either in dress or age when looking at the men. I can only see one or two females that look similar in age. I totally believe he probably worked on the bridge. Those are vintage welder's goggles, not sun glasses and the thick, zip up sweater (likely made of wool) and the sweater underneath (also likely made of wool) are perfectly ideal welding or riveters garments. You need to protect your chest, arms, and legs from flying sparks and need to be wearing fabric that isn't going to catch fire from the heat if you catch a spark. He's probably wearing denim pants and wool undergarments as well. As you know, wool will singe but strongly resists catching a flame and tight weave denim may smolder but it shouldn't burn through from a spark. So, I'm with the others in thinking he was probably a welder on the bridge or a riveter. (One of my dad's trades is welding, so I've had some lessons on how to properly dress if I wanted to keep him company either while he was soldering pipes together (he's also a plumber) or was welding things in the garage.)
If you look at the fabric textures and cut of the neckline it's pretty clear that he's wearing period accurate clothes. Heck, the cardigan he's wearing looks to be made of the same material as the woman in white in front of him is wearing.
Great video. I was wondering if you could talk about the fashion of the 'Wild West' or the frontier or whatever term you historians use. I'm very curious about it. It seems to be a blend of casual and Victorian and also a very sharp departure from anything you'd find on the East Coast. I'd love to hear your take on this.
Thank you Nicole for this deep dive. If you were ever interested, I'm sure if you reached out to Levi Strauss Co. they would be happy to help with some of their historical information. All employees are given information on the founder, how the company started, and what the values were, are and will be etc; and how the designs changed over time; though the icons have stayed the same. The history is amazingly fascinating and something to really bite into :) * not affiliated, sadly.
How Long Will I Love You? is a Chinese sci-fi, romance, mystery, time travel movie about 2 people who live in the same apartment, completely aware of the other, like roommates, but one is from 1999 and the other from 2017. They enter each year depending on which of them opens the door but any attempts to change the timeline destroys part of the present they're in. Love Stoppage Time is a romance, sci-fi drama from Japan, each day at 12:15 time stops for the entire world except for two people but after an hour time resets and they have to find each other again. Both are a great experience for fans of time travel movies.
Interesting video👍, here in Sweden hoodies were called "munk jacka" translated "monk jacket" in the 70's. Still today some refer to them as such. I always assumed is because monks have hooded garments traditionally. I find it interesting how things get there names such as how you explain why it's called a zipper in English. We call it a " drag kedja" a "drag/pull chain". 😊
During WW2 US military services issued screen printed tee shirts, as did the different civilian and service work groups. Also many universities had screen printed t-shirts. A difference in these vintage tee shirts is that they were made on loop-wheel “body-size” looms that wove a tube without side seams.
This was really interesting. I used to have a long sleeved undershirt that had cotton on the side next to my skin and wool on the outside. Just the opposite of what was done a long time ago. It was the warmest shirt I have ever had and I was so sad when I grew out of it. I haven't been able to find another undershirt like it since. In our house, growing up, blue jeans was a serious no no, as our Mother thought only wayward kids and especially girls wore them. Side note...I watched this video right after I watched Abby's third installment of " The Girls drink while answering viewers questions'. It was quite the change of atmosphere! Loved them both. You must be missing her terribly, but there is always Zoom or Facetime. Thank you for this history lesson. I learned alot. I wonder though if this fellow was just photoshopped into the photo? Your thoughts? Thanks!
Try LL Bean. They have a double layer cotton lined union suit. I didn't check to see if they had two piece long underwear in double layer. But it's worth a shot.
Great dissection! It drives me nuts when people claim they see someone using a cell phone in old photographs/paintings and claim it's a time traveller. There was no cellular network or wifi, so their phone would be completely useless in that context.
Thinking back to the popularity of printed t shirts in the 70's, it seems strange to me that we used to go to a mall, find a store with nothing but printed Ts on display, purchase our shirts and have the printed right there. I can still remember the smell of those hot plastic transfers. Mom loved them, especially her nightshirt that said "I have abandoned my search for reality and am now looking for a good fantasy."
PBS just did a show on Denim. It starred my personal heroine Rabbit Goody, textile historian and weaver. This is all fascinating and a good topic to discuss from different points of view. - Danielle
My grandma was born in 1926 and grew up on a farm. She said that her and her siblings usually wore things like jeans and sweatshirts for doing farm work because they were easy to move in, durable, and could get dirty without getting ruined. Usually they would dress up to go into town (dresses, skirts, nice trousers for the men/boys, etc). But sometimes they would have to run into town while working to get feed, tractor parts, veterinary supplies, and so on, and they usually didn't bother changing because they were busy. So I don't think it was terribly uncommon to see people in this casual attire in those days.
Since it was the bridge opening, it was most likely a welder from the site. Those are welding glasses and due to the time period the sweater was probably from service in WW2. A fascinating clip. Thanks for the history tour!
I think that the glasses are what tricks the eye more than clothing. They remind me of a pair of sunglasses I had in the 1980s. ;~). So while they have a logical explanation (welding glasses), my brain automatically associates them with the 1980s.
The symbol on his "tshirt" is an M in a circle. So probably his hockey sweater from his school days.
He has a camera in his hands. My guess is he's a freelance photographer. Those sunglasses are period correct. My father wore sunglasses like that in the early 1940s.
I came here just to say the that. He's wearing welding glasses of the era.
oh that's a good explanation as well. the sunglasses reminded me of victorian sunglasses that had protective bits at the side so you didn't get sut in the eyes when on a steam train.
The "Tiffany Problem" seems an appropriate thing to point out here. It's where the name Tiffany was very popular in medieval Europe but we think it's only a modern name, so having a story with a medieval woman called "Tiffany" would look very wrong to us now. So if jeans are perfectly normal for a working class man in the 1500s to wear, we'd see that as extremely weird in a period drama set then.
There's an absolutely *delightful* couple of videos about "The Tiffany Problem" by CGP Grey: ruclips.net/video/9LMr5XTgeyI/видео.html&ab_channel=CGPGrey . The first video is charming, insightful, full of adorable stick figures in medieval costume...and then in the sequel he loses his mind over dead ends in historical research and it's even better.
@@lwoods507 except not! Because if you look up her paperwork her name was actually theophania!
Tiffany Problem was my art history professor’s drag queen name
@@phoenixfritzinger9185 that is AMAZING oh my lord
@@phoenixfritzinger9185 that is the coolest sentence I'll read all week
My great grandmother apparently couldn’t believe members of the family would wear denim/blue jeans because “that’s what boys who pick up horse droppings on roads and men who collect the nightsoil wear.”
She was born in 1891, Australia.
My mother wouldn't let me wear denim as a teenager because they're 'farmer's clothes'.
I'm 26
Both of my grandmothers (USA) had a similar viewpoint on blue jeans. My paternal and maternal grandmothers were born in 1910 and 1925, respectively, and both despised blue jeans. My maternal grandmother said that when she was a girl, blue jeans were poor people's clothes, and didn't like us kids wearing them, but also recognized that it was beyond her control; her sons (younger than my mom) also wore blue jeans. My paternal grandmother was a school teacher until the mid-70s, and would buy the craziest clothes for us second-hand, saying, "kids these days wear rags and any old thing, and these are better quality." This was in the late 70s and early 80s, when designer clothes became popular. I thought she was just nuts, until I realized WHEN her last years of teaching were: mid-60s to mid-70s, the hippie-free-love-counter-culture era. My mom said to just tell her thank you, and we didn't have to wear the crazy stuff unless she was visiting.
Edit to add, regarding increasing popularity of denim/blue jeans: My dad's younger sister traveled throughout the world in the 70s & 80s, and I remember her speaking of taking Levi's 501s to some European countries, and could sell them for 2 and 3 times what she paid for them here in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
and she was damn right about this !
@mikehoare ….she was right about it 70 years ago lol
Omg I would never have expected that!!! Ever since I remember (to be fair I’m young) jeans have always been so aussie
I can't be the only one who thinks an art book collecting images of "time travelers" would be really fun, including information about the history of the garments we think of as so clearly modern.
I love this breakdown of the "time traveler's" clothes and how these garment are older than we suppose. I want the movie where people from the past come forward and are scandalized that their descendants are only wearing underclothes!
Or they just miss the point (we're doing underwear only now?) and walk around in just a shirt with bare legs!
@@NicoleRudolph
The lower body would be recognisable to them as “fully dressed” (at least in masculine clothes), but the concept of the same shirt being simultaneously considered underwear and acceptable to have on show.
Oh, that would have been one of my grandmothers. I think she was only half joking when I'd wear a tank top & shorts in the summer, & she'd ask if I was going "bathing" (as in bathing/swim suit).
I remember some movie from the 90's where the main character looked exactly like her great aunt and ended up back in the 30's, having to pretend to be her. She was appalled by the floral dresses and wore long johns and overalls to school, scandalizing her teacher.
Karolina Zebrowska did a comic short along these lines.
The moment I learned that white Comverse high tops almost visually indistinguishable from modern white Converse high tops were the standard US Army training athletic shoe during World War 2, I stopped trusting my natural perception of how “recent” commonly worn modern clothing pieces are.
That's how I got away with wearing converse to gym class. I pointed out it was the orginal athletic shoe. Hence, Chuck freakin' Taylor!!
Know history, gain power!
I was really shocked to find out that converse were invented in like 1911
I know. Can you imagine 5-mile runs in Chucks?
Those kind of fabric trainers were common as everyday shoes in the 4oies and 50ies and for PE with white tshirts and blue shorts as seen on period dramas made by other people of my parents generation.
@@flickslandan8262 Yep. Been around forever. English plimsolls, which were basically the Keds CVO with or without laces, were invented in the late 19th century for beachgoing.
“It’s the thing protecting your clothes from you.”
Me, struggling out of my shirt: “I’m not stuck in here with you; you’re stuck on here with ME!”
One thing I've noticed is that the 'time travelers' are typically men. Like, yeah, sometimes a woman will be pointed at for having something in her hand, but the ones people really go crazy for are often men wearing tshirts and shorts or other working men's clothes (or swimsuits and other athletic clothes like you noted). And I think that's partly because men's hair is a bit more 'timeless', in that there's only so many things you can do with short hair as compared to long hair and wigs. So you will find men with scruffy "modern" hair, especially in working and athletic situations.
My personal HC is that women time travelers pay a lot more attention to detail and try to fit in. Men don't usually pay attention to things like fashion (stereotype. I know) so they're more likely to half-ass it and really stand out
There is also the film where an older lady is holding something up to her ear that can't quite be seen. Time traveler-phone, period correct lady- small hearing horn.
idk, I saw a photograph in an art book of a lady with long hair down, center part, curling slightly at the ends, sitting on a blanket (in a field? park? edges were over exposed) with a toddler in a white sleeveless romper*, while wearing a light colored, button up blouse gathered at cuffs with a bit of lace at a collar and a twill skirt that looked EXACTLY like some clothes my mom had in her closet from the 1970s. I could have been forgiven for thinking that was my mom with my older cousin and they they used b&w film because of expense just based on photos from around our house.
Yeah, the art book photo was from the 1890s.
The skirt was likely longer but that didn't show up thanks to the casual sitting position.
*I have since found out it was likely a singlet, but the resemblance to a romper my daughter wore 110 years later is why I term it that.
Also the fact that men could wear a more varied wardrobe depending on their activities whereas women were not allowed to wear much either because of modesty, societal standards, and restricted activities.
@@littlepixieme1 lmao I love this
I was born in 1957 and my mother in 1934. I still remember swiping my fathers undershirts and wearing jeans that mother insisted were indecent. You see, to her “ Ladies trousers close (zip) on the side or the back but NOT in the front”.
My mom was born in 55; her mom said the same thing to her all the tine. They lived on a farm in Saskatchewan; they rairly got store bought cloths in the city. My mom didn't get her first pair of frount zipper pants untill grade 12 when she bought them with her own money when visiting her sister at college in the city.
I was born in 1960, my mom in 1936 & I remember having similar fights with her over wearing jeans--Levis--to school in the 70s. In her mind Levis jeans were ranch or play clothes & not proper for school (our family had a working farm/ranch at one time) My mom had always gone to private Catholic school so had always worn a uniform for school & grew up with stricter ideas about what clothes were worn for which activity. I kept trying to explain to her that teens in the 1970s no longer had "play" clothes & school clothes & work clothes & church clothes etc. Funny thing is, the last decades of her life you couldn't get that woman out of sweats no matter what the occasion lol.
I love this! My grandmother was born in 1921 and insisted on me wearing dresses and skirts. She was once scandalized to find I wasn’t wearing a slip. I got her number, though - not long before she passed, she was high on her pain medication and confessed to me that she used to sneak out with her older sister, who was a flapper - then she did the Charleston to prove it 😆 Imagine! A little 86 year old lady in a flowery nightgown, lifting it up so I see her knees as she danced around the room. Grandma had great gams!
She also scandalized ME by confessing that another man was in love with her and he came to her on her wedding day and was on his knees pleading with her not to marry my grandfather.... the outcome of that little flap of butterfly’s 🦋 wings might have meant life or death for me! She left me all the love letters she saved from her and my grandfather, before they married.
My mom was born in 1954, her mom in 1911. But grandma was a seamstress and dressed my mom in the latest fashions customized to suit my mom's body type-- so long as it's wasn't jeans, she HATED sewing denim! Mom once told me the only store bought / non-hand-me-down clothes she wore before college were socks, nylons, bras, and jeans.
My mother was born in 1922, and I suspect (though she'd never admit it) that she wore her brother's trousers a time or two to do winter chores on the farm.
I'm #7 (1958) and by the time I came along, if I wasn't bleeding from an artery or getting arrested, she was pretty calm.
Unless there were shoes on the table, @Nicole Rudolph....
*(I've never been arrested.)
When you talked about the zip up sweater as being more casual than a suit coat, it remined me of Mr. Rodgers always removing his suit coat and dress shoes to change into tennis shoes and a zip up sweater when he came home.
Omg you’re right!
same!
I was in college in the 1970s, so about 45 years ago. Both then and now I wore very simple clothing, solid colors, basic cuts. Most of what I wore then could be worn today without looking at all out of place. [A solid cotton knit pullover shirt and a pair of Levi's ... today we'd call the exact same items a plain t-shirt and jeans.]
When we look at high fashion, we see a lot of change. But when we look at lower and middle class basic clothing that was intended to last may years ... the styles don't change much at all. At least, not until fast fashion.
Another interesting thing to me, is how vintage/historic clothes can look so much more modern without period accurate undergarments.
And vice versa! Using those correct undergarments (and convincing accessories in particular) means you can sometimes take modern garments and restyle them fairly convincingly as vintage, if they have the right cut. (Rachel Maksy has done some interesting stuff like this?)
My family has LOTS of photos of my grandfather in the early 40s wearing just this sort of outfit, sans collar all the time, while clowning around with his friends in college. He appears to have worn collared shirts to class and dances only. They look so timeless now.
My dad had a zippered sweatshirt in the 40’s. It was a coarser fabric than modern fleece, and no hood, but it was definitely recognizable as a sweatshirt. He wore it until it fell apart in the late 60’s.
Hockey! The gentleman is wearing a hockey sweater. I live in BC and was born and raised here. We are hockey fans in this province much like the rest of Canada is as well. The gentleman in the picture is wearing sweater with the letter "M". Years ago in BC, we had the Vancouver Millionaires hockey team and their sweaters were graced with a "V". Today we have the Vancouver Canucks with a "C". In the past, the city of Montreal had the Montreal Maroons, which were defined by the letter "M". We don't know if he was a resident of the area or came in from out of province or even from another country. However, what he is wearing looks very similar to the sweaters worn by the Montreal Maroons.
And "hoodies" in the 1960s and '70s in my area of BC were called kangaroo jackets. And flip flops were called thongs.
We (people in my province in the 60s)called them bunnyhugs. Many of us (other than gen z who've been Americanized. Lol) still do.
That’s a thought. I was thinking baseball jerseys, but those would be button front, and the logo wouldn’t be likely to be square.
It seems likely. The Montreal Maroons get shown in the video and the M on it looks quite similar. So yeah I'd go with sports jumper too.
Probably a Vancouver Meralomas sweater.Believe they have been around since 1920s.
My Dad grew up in Montreal in the 1920's. He had a photo of his father wearing the exact same jersey. A maroon M on gold hexagon that continued to a gold horizontal stripe on the sleeves. He said it was the Montreal Maroons before they switched to a plain white M.
My kids in here in Alberta do not believe that we ever called them kangaroo jackets when I was a kid. To me. thongs were leather sandals, flip flops were rubber. My son calls pop, soda. I'm so depressed.
Not to mention, he's from BC. A lot of people here dressed way more casually way sooner than other parts of the world because we're relatively isolated - a lot of logging camps, work camps, small towns, etc. The suit and tie look died out HARD here quite soon after that photo was taken, and wearing a suit with a tie is quite unusual to this day, whereas back east it would just be a sign of someone with an office job.
It's very interesting that you mention the cowgirl/cowboy thing in the 30's/40's advertisings for jeans, because at least here in Spain, we call jeans "vaqueros", which literally is the spanish for cowboy.
There’s also a popular brand of jeans over here in the states called Wrangler that is a call back to the whole pants for cowboys thing
They also still use the cowboy pants thing pretty heavily in their advertising
Some countries call them farmer - like in Hungarian they're literally 'farmer" as in the English word as a loan word. In Finnish it's "farkut" which comes from "farkarit" which comes from "farmer"
In danish they're called "cowboybukser" - cowboy pants!
@@Beaverthing That phrase sounds so drag queen! 😂 Immediately brings to mind BDSM leather chaps or something similar, rather than unglamorous heavy denim dungarees 🤭
3:50 I wrote a short story like that when I was in school. My character was sitting on the edge of a fountain in the ruins of Pompeii in the 1920s he blinked and opened his eyes to see people around him and the buildings suddenly rebuilt. He talks to some people and realises that he is in the city a day or so before the volcano was going to erupt, he tries to warn someone but trips and wakes up back in his own time with his sister asking if he is okay as he has fallen off the fountain. He puts it out of his mind dismissing it as a dream but as he is walking away he puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a single Vespasian sesterce. I wrote it as a exercise after a school trip to Sorrento, I thought it was a fun little story and my Latin teacher liked it. Sorry I know this has very little to do with the video but I hadn't thought of that story for years
Cool!
I feel like the 1920s depression played a key role in "blue jeans" as we know it today, being more readily spread among the middle class. Because, everybody lost their jobs, got pay cut, or couldn't find work. The pants were low cost with high durability, it was inevitable that they would become widespread used across most of America during that time. You wore clothing for much longer lengths of time compared to with today's social climate regarding clothing. Those clothes HAD to last, because what money you did have, you had to make due with for food/housing.
This is how I treat my jeans as a college student 😂😭 Low cost, high durability is where it's at
It’s funny when you think about guys like zuckerberg wearing jeans.
1930s*
@@azure113 the depression was 1920s with a stock market crash. My grandfather was raised during the 1920s. The 1930s is the tail end of the depression era, following into the start of WW2.
@@JosephArata
The stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression was in 1929, so most of the Great Depression was in the 1930s.
Fun fact: according to the book “No Idle Hands” in the 1920s sweaters were sometimes referred to as “golfers” in the US. And if you look at 1920s sweater adverts, there are lots of women holding golf clubs.
Jimmy Carter was photographed in jeans in the white house (1976) and it was scandoulos! I was in a very conservative community and while we were allowed to wear a pants suit to dinner, jeans (which I thought looked tons bettér) were out of the question. To give some context, I'm now 77 and use old jeans to make corsets.
25:59 this is the correct answer. Most likely, he’s a student. I found an inventory list from the Williams College store in 1910 which lists a very similar sweater set to what this guy is wearing. And stapled to it? an article from the local paper where someone urges the school store to stop selling the sweater sets because the students have taken to wearing them without collared shirts (and the article writer finds this highly improper). So nope, not a time traveler: just your average slovenly student.
The blue jean part of the video reminds me of a book we read back in sixth grade - the main character was a younger girl who, coincidentally enough, got transported back in time to the American civil war. The thing that comes to mind with this video from the book was that due to the main girl wearing blue jeans and having short hair, she was seen as a young working class boy by the people she meets in her time traveling shenanigans. It basically taught me how fashion has changed so much over time which was neat haha.
I can testify to the fact that the term "hoodie" is very recent. While I was growing up in 70s and 80s, hooded sweatshirts were very, very popular. I don't remember hearing the word "hoodie" until the early 2000s. In fact, I was showing my daughter some old pictures of me in a color-block hooded sweatshirt when I was about 12 (so we're looking at about 1979) and she asked "You had hoodies back then?" I replied that they had been around before I was born, but we didn't call them that. With very big eyes, she asked, "What did you call them?" She was very disappointed when I shrugged and said "sweatshirts." She simply couldn't fathom that we didn't have a separate name for a hooded sweatshirt.
Yeah here in Australia we called them "sloppy joes." I first came across the term "Hoodie" on Threadless in around 2005 or something
Here in Saskatchewan Canada; we have a slang term for "hoodie ". We call it a BUNNY HUG. The term was invented arround 1978; very popular in the 80s and 90s. Most kids/ teens/ young adults these days even in Saskatchewan say HOODIE because BUNNY HUG is not a cool term 🤦♀️ You know you live in or are from Saskatchewan and born between 1970 and 2000 if yoy call a HOODIE a BUNNY HUG 🤣
There's a photo of me at age 2 (in 1966) wearing a little red zippered hoodie jacket and sweatpants matching set on a camping trip. I think in my teens we called them "sweatjackets" if they zipped up and had hoods, while a 'sweatshirt' was just the simple crewneck pullover style.
They were definitely called hoodies in the UK in the 1990s.
I grew up in So Cal and remember hearing "hoodie" for the first time; it was always called a zip sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt before that. I graduated from high school in '99, so the term emerging in the '90s feels about right.
The wild man in his undershirt story reminded me of how folks where I live will often say “so-and-so was just in his shirtsleeves.” Which I think originally meant “without a jacket” but in current context means in just a t-shirt.
I think the sunglasses also help him look "modern" but I know I've seen that style from older pictures. Thanks for the history lesson, Nicole!
The main photo being discussed - he looks so modern because he is NOT wearing a hat. A hat on top of that outfit would (correctly) date the whole thing effortlessly.
This reminds me of a rant I once wanted to post on Facebook. You know the image comparing Cary Grant to a man from "today" in tight jeans shorts and a messy man bun captioned to the effect of "look how terrible today's fashion is, what went wrong" ? My point was that you can't compare styles from 60+ years apart and across class lines, and how "we" often put things of the past on a pedestal. I even made similar memes comparing other fashions (1870s gentlemen v 1950s greaser teens, Louis 14 v upper class man's outfit from the late 1700s since most people wouldn't know they were from different centuries, 1980s businessman v 1980s rock star) I also had a section about how jeans started as a working class garment that got adopted by counter culture movements, yet today we see them as a stylish staple because of said movements. Another section was about how fashion simply changed more gradually before the 1900s. Ultimately, I don't have the credentials to do the whole thing justice but I would love to see you cover the topic someday.
Also, Cary Grant’s “look” was dictated by the studio; even the casual “by the pool” photos are press pics. So we have no record of what he looked like when actually rigged for casual…
@@tinad8561 Even Cary Grant said: "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant." 😉
I didn't hear 'hoodie' until the early 2000's when my kids started calling it that. It was frustrating because 'it's just a jacket.' Sometimes we'd call it a 'sweat jacket,' after the 'sweat shirt.' Had those all my life and I'm a 70's-80's kid.
It is pretty strange looking at certain picture and seeing people do things similar that we are so used to today, a sort of unintentional anachronism. The video "The Among Us Effect" by TREY the Explainer talks about Pareidolia, (when we see faces and pattern when there isn't one), specifically when the game Among us became really popular and people started seeing the crew members everywhere, even in ancient artwork. While not the exact concept, looking at somebody in an old painting seemly using a smartphone and seeing an Among us figure on a trashcan gives me a similar feeling.
When it comes to trousers/ pants, my gran remember when they where allowed to wear trouser at work, they were wide legged and the top was a tunic that went down to her legs, this was 1938 Sweden. She loved it, and her male co-worker couldn't up skirt her when she was running upp ladders. My grandfather at the same time, on my dad side own 2 pair of jeans due to his work. All photo except his engagement photo and wedding photo during 1938- 1945 , he is seen in jeans and white west or jeans and wool shirt. I have picture of my maternal grandfather in a t-shirt and shorts at 1920, standing on his hands with legs stretched wide, he was flexible man.
I had no idea jeans went so far back! Or t-shirts for that matter. My fashion plate of choice is vintage…who knew? 🤣
what they call a "timeless look"
Yes. Levi Strauss was a Jewish entrepreneur who made the "first" riveted "dungarees". I didn't know jeans went that far back because my very conservative grandfather didn't have a pair to his name in the 70s-90s, the time we were both alive. So I though jeans were like tie-dye shirts and long hair on men. Funny Story: I saw a KKK Klansman with a sign that said "I HAVE SUPERIOR JEANS"...so much for the Master Race and I bet he had no clue his Levis were invented by a Jew, so double-dumb-ass to you, sir!
As a person who was a teen in the eighties, I can say that when my kids in the 2000s said "hoodie" I didn't know what they were talking about. We had them but they didn't really have a name. Of course, I now use the term hoodie often. ☺️
I love these surveys of historic clothing. It makes me start thinking...I wonder when the shawl was replaced by the sweater. Shawls are more practical because they layer more easily, but they really restrict movement. So much to learn! We are very lucky to have you to do all this research. Thank you.
I'm not sure it's a matter of one replacing the other as knitwear for outerwear kinda picks up mid-19th century regardless of style. There are fabric cloaks and other textile items prior, but knitting really took off as a popular hobby around then because of increasing free time. I'm guessing they were just both options depending on what you needed to fit under them!
I've heard that sweaters started becoming the norm in the 1910s. The exact explanation for why seems to vary. It's generally explained as some combination of knitting becoming a popular pastime during WWI, more women taking on jobs during the war that needed improved arm mobility, and young women ditching corsets, but needing an additional warmth layer without the corset to help regulate body heat. Obviously sweaters existed earlier than this (think 1890s cycling sweaters), but these tended to be more athletic wear than everyday wear.
ah, you've pointed out why I don't wear shawls. If you bunch them up around your neck you can't see the design, if you wear them around your body your neck gets cold and the shawl sort of falls off. There are so many beautiful lace shawl patterns and I knitted two and I just don't wear them because shawls are really annoying :(
Shawls were replaced? Presumably in the US? In Europe they are still quite common.
@@ffotograffydd Yeah, we still have them in Canada. They're just a really handy garment and easier to tweak the coverage they provide, and therefore the warmth, than something with sleeves
Nicole, thank you! This was such a cool video idea, you managed to take a clickbaity meme and turn it into this fascinating and detailed exploration of different clothing elements.
I know getting people's attention online is difficult when you want to deliver some nuance and substance, but this was such a perfect jumping-off point - you always seem to find the perfect balance between silly/shareable/attention-grabbing topic but make it a truly insightful video essay, at a relaxed and relaxing pace.
I have ADHD, all I can say is this formula WORKS for me. I can easily latch on to your 'hook' and then watch your videos all the way through, loving every minute.
You're _really_ good at this.
I'm glad you're on this platform.
We do , of course, have rules for dressing appropriately these days too, but usually that's not a conscious thing. Here in Sweden there's been a heated debate for decades whether boys should be allowed to wear baseball caps indoors in school, or pretty much 24-7. This is more or less making some people go mad with rage. What these people probably don't know is that their bad feelings are based in medieval rules of behaviour. When facing an authority ( the boss, rich people, women etc) a man should always be bare headed to show respect. Now, the fun part is when I have been asked by upset elderly men to show some respect and remove my baseball cap indoors, at for example, a fancy restaurant, I've been having a really hilarious moment! Because I'm a middle aged woman, and if we are to actually FOLLOW these ancient rules, to ask an adult woman to remove her headwear is UNTHINKABLE and sooooo extremely disrespectful. Lol. I'm always waiting for the day when the schools will be filled with respectful, we'll behaved boys, wearing no hats. And row after row of girls, wearing the exact same hats instead....
Right?? XD My husband keeps wanting both our son and daughter to take their hats off indoors "because it's rude," and I have a hell of a time not going, "Actually..." XD
Interestingly this is where the media goes the other way around. At least with American schools I'd expect a higher percentage of fictional than real ones have a "no hats in classrooms/the building" rule since baseball caps are a challenge to light in live action and to animate, so banning them gives a convenient explanation for their absence which is really to make it easier to see the actors' faces.
The modern argument for school children not wearing is so the teachers can tell if they are paying attention and not half asleep.
Yeah at my old job I (a cis woman) worked food service and so wore a hat as part of my uniform and I was busy serving a bunch of people when an orchestra was playing the national anthem and some old dude grouched that I didn't take my hat off. I wasn't quick enough but in my head I'm like dude, I'm a girl. That's not a thing.
In high school and college (early 80s), I worked for County Seat, a casual clothing store known for selling Levi’s. I got curious about the logo on the leather patch featuring the horses pulling apart a pair of jeans. So I wrote to the relatively new show “Fight Back! with David Horowitz”. I wanted to know how accurate the Levi’s claim was that their construction could withstand being pulled apart by two horses, just like the patch.
I got an answer! Not only did I get an answer from the show, they recreated the horse test from the Levi’s patch for the program. Spokespeople from Levi Strauss & Co. even came on the show to relate the history of the patch design and the company itself, as well as to participate in the test. Well, the seams and belt loops held! The pants actually tore in the fabric down the front of the legs, but not until they been REALLY stressed by the strength of those two work horses. The Levi Strauss company was so pleased that their pants had passed the test originally staged by Levi himself in the 1870s that they sent me vouchers good for two pairs of original Levi’s 501 or 505 jeans. Since men’s jeans didn’t fit on my definitely curvy female body, I used the vouchers to get my beau two new pairs of jeans. He wore them for *many* years, true to claim of Levi’s quality.
this is an amazing story!!!
My grandfather had to wear jeans to high school in the late 30s and felt it was humiliating. Wearing jeans to school implied that you had nothing better to wear. Of course, he was also the kind of kid to hop a boxcar and go get a tattoo while also in school. I think a lot of the attitude you referenced in the 50s and 60s could be tied to a working class chip on the shoulder.
In the 1930s, some of my mother's classmates went to school barefoot. Her mother also brought some of her classmates home with them and fed them. (She was the teacher, and she had wages a lot of moms didn't have, and seven little garden hands to keep her in produce....)
This reminds me of a visit to a textile museum I went to as a kid (this was like... 20~ years ago so memory is not the best). The person that held a sort of tour/lecture was talking about denim and indigo as a dye, and told us that while it's often counted as being a "thing™" since 1870's no-one actually knows how long this has been around.
They also talked about how some theories are that it was also old sailcloth that was re-purposed at the start. And we did get to do tie-dye with indigo (and everyone had to wear gloves because of the pigments). I remember one classmate accidentally got some of the dyebath on their shoes and those stains never came out.
I find it SO interesting that the boom of athletic or leisure wear at the turn of the century is pretty much what constituted our every day modern outfits, because I feel like certain athletic and measure trends at the NEXT turn of the century constitute what a lot of us wear and think is cute now.
1999-2000 the most common outfit is probably t-shirts and jeans but cool artists and rappers were wearing big crew necks and sweatpants, and the socialite faces of fashion like Paris Hilton were wearing matching velour sweatsuits, and I feel like all of that probably lead into the fabletics matching tank/leggings thing that is so so in right now
wow, so well done. thank you especially for talking about screen printing and serigraph for sign and printing development. The screen printed T-shirt being a new development just over a half century ago yet people know it better than for printing and signage and art prints. The thing you did not mention is that screen printing is so popular because it is the ONLY printing method that does not require the image to be reversed during development of the image. you don't have to worry about backward spelling for example so it is simple and easy for anyone to try!
When I studied archaeology in the 1990s, the older archaeologists talked of how old archaeologists were dressed at excavations when they were young - suits and white shirts, and they managed to keep clean!
This reminds me of the current remake of All Creatures Great and Small, where on James's first interview with Siegfried, he's required to go into a really mucky horse paddock in his tweed suit and brogues. My dad was a large animal vet here in Illinois from 1960 on, and he always had workboots (or workboots AND rubber outer boots) and coveralls (a lot of the time, JUST coveralls over his underwear!). So there's a big shift in 30 years (and, admittedly, opposite sides of an ocean!).
I doubt they were the ones doing the laundry, though!
@@Spelaea I am absolutely sure they didn't do the laundry!
14:26 those Levi's only cost $1.10 and that was the expensive pair! I remember expensive designer jeans being popular in the late 70s early 80s like Jordache and Gloria Vanderbuilt (sorry if my spelling is off). Some were plum coloured or wine red. Only the more affluent kid's in school wore them. I wore Lee's and my brother Wranglers or generic brands and they were blue. We both liked our jeans. I had a cropped pair I wore ALL the time. It was just the first time I was aware of what upper-class or affluence looked like in my own little world.BTW I wish I could sew a pair of the older high waisted jeans for myself, but I would have to upgrade my sewing machine first. And I've said it before and will say it again! Love everything you do Nicole, especially how well you research and present your findings.
I had brown jeans with contrasting patch pockets and a pair of elephant bell plaid hiphuggers in 1973 (brown, cream, and sky blue....)
@@MelissaThompson432 oh yes! I know exactly the type that you mean. 😀
Another thing that stands out for me is not just the clothing, but the fact that HE'S A FULL HEAD TALLER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. Also, I'd be interested in a vid about the history of sunglasses, because I was under the impression that outside aviators, people in the fourties didn't wear them.
i also wished she dove into the history of sunglasses, i think that’s the part that really makes him stand out!!
He may not be a time traveller, but he is a fashion icon (at least to me)
I bet "gay" and I bet "FABULOUS"!
@@troyevitt2437 Not really, but he is handsome.
This was the most interesting ½ hour ever in my life. Gosh the history of garments is fascinating!
Another classic time travel (via concussion) is Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. A mere 6 years before HG Wells' time machine.
Literally yesterday I had a random thought about T shirts, mainly, how and who invented them? Thank you for the video, perfect timing!
15:22 Two things really stand out for me: One, those jeans cost between $22 - $25 because they were made by factory workers who (I certainly hope!) earned a living wage; two, I had no idea "bell bottoms" were popular before the 1960s, which betrays my age! 16:40 LOL, I remember that Sears catalog on the right!
I looked at that, too. That was the price per dozen.
The Navy wore bellbottoms long before they were considered 'fashion'
@@kateruch7196 hold on, let me go buy a dozen jeans real quick
I knew sailors wore them earlier because of being in theatre, doing a summer of G&S operettas so costumes. But - the first time in 1970s low-rise zip-up bell bottoms from the Army Navy store was - painful & nearly traumatizing. Def *not* the same as a broadfall!
„Casual“ is a nice word for negligence and poor materials. Thank you for the historical overview. Very interesting!
Although jeans were allowed in the dress code at my high school (when I attended in the late 70s), my parents didn't allow me to wear jeans to school. In fact, I think I owned only one pair of jeans (which were not Levi's) until the time I left for college. Also, in discussing sweater vs. jacket - at 13:28, the 1881 Cincinnati Enquirer clip mentions a "wamus"--a new term to me--but according to Merriam-Webster, it was a belted cardigan-style work jacket, made from KNIT or woven fabric. So the idea of a sweaterish, presumably less-constructed outer garment goes at least to latter 19th century.
Thank you for the history lesson! A part of me has always wanted to see contemporary fashions reproduced in old materials and techniques, and these "time travellers" are tickling that fancy. On a side note, the Keanu Reeves time-travelling photos are my absolute favourite. xD
I love your videos, so interesting and entertaining at the same time!
Your story about zippers made me realize that in my language (German) we tend to be much more literal. A zip or zipper in German is "Reißverschluss" (a rip fastener), a bra is "Büstenhalter" (a bust holder) , a slip is "Unterkleid" or "Unterrock" (an underdress or underskirt), and a cardigan is "Strickjacke" (a knit jacket).
When I was a child in the 1960s, we still differentiated between "Unterhemd" (a usually sleeveless and knitted undershirt) and "Oberhemd" - not an overshirt but the collared shirt worn by men under their jackets, with a tie of course. It seems to me that the term "Oberhemd" has now died out and the garment is simply called "Hemd", even if you wear it over an Unterhemd.
We do have a photo of my dad’s parents when my dad was really little in the early 50s, his dad wearing a t-shirt and jeans, his mom wearing a very simple dress with stripes. It’s not shocking those were things much sooner. Plus the family photos from the 20s of various relatives in their bathing suits always amused me growing up and were much shorter/tighter fitting than what’s shown in this video already by then. It’s always funny to me realizing 2-piece bathing suits were already a fairly common thing in the 30s, but they were.
"acrosst" - Not a word.
Love your video, though. I learned so much. Thank you for sharing your depth of knowledge.
About the cold/damp -> tuberculosis, I was told that they developed that belief because a lot of people had latent TB and would only become symptomatic after something compromised their immune health - like an extended period of being cold and wet. Anyone know if this is plausible?
It's possible as far as I am aware. I was recently screened for latent TB prior to starting a new immunosuppressant, as they can re-activate it. Apparently lots of people have latent TB and have no idea.
@@blueocean43 Thanks for the confirmation! I always worry that things I know without remembering where I learned them will turn out to be wrong.
Since there was no central heating most houses were cold and damp. Also one of the early treatments for tb was being sent to a warm dry environment it seemed logical to assume a damp cold environment was one of the causes.
Being 'cold and damp' also usually coincides with it being winter. Which is when we are exposed to cold viruses constantly, which will make it more likely for other, latent infections to succeed in overwhelming the immune system.
People would also spent less time outside in the sun and be exposed to smoke from wood or coal fires constantly. Plus the food would be less fresh and varied.
A cold and wet environment is also great for mold...and that can do a number on your health.
I've lived in California all my life, so I learned a bit about the gold rush and how Levi got it's start during then. But I never made the connection of "oh of course blue jeans existed before 1849". They didn't just pop into existence in San Francisco. Wonderful video as always.
Fantastic. Really enjoyed this one. I remember seeing an old black and white photo of a group of cowboys and how flash they were dressed. No John Wayne dusty brown. One was wearing a stripped long sleeved tshirt. I wore the same thing in the eighties. And of course Coco Chanel championed ‘jersey’ knit fabrics as a comfortable more utilitarian style of dress. ❤
So many of these comments add to the historical context of clothing from memories of family! ❤
(B 1948) I remember making slacks patterns with side seam zippers... But I love jeans. And my current 3 pairs of Converse sneakers (red, pink, neon yellow) - so comfortable and they get lots of compliments.
There is an absolutely fantastic American Experience episode called "Riveted" that digs further into the history of denim jeans and how they came to be such an iconic garment.
Ooh, thank you!
My grandma, (b 1912) always called them "dungarees" & said it was a reference to work wear of men cleaning up the "dung" from horses & other farm animals. We only wore them as "play clothes" after school.
"Dungarees" comes from the Mumbai provenance of Dungri, where a denim-like fabric was produced. Similar to "Calico" coming from the Indian city of Calicut.
A dungaree to me is a full body outfit you wear t-shirts underneath. I've never heard anyone call jeans dungarees, even though they are made out of the same material. But I guess that's how people now see it.
@@Xegethra you're British. In the US, dungarees are still coarse cotton work pants, aka jeans, and bibbed denims are overalls, because you wear them...over...all. I know you reserve that term for what we call coveralls.
Funny language, English....
@@MelissaThompson432 We'd often call an overall a boiler suit or some such, not made of denim and not in the same shape of our dungarees. Coverall isn't one I hear a lot of, but when I have it's been neither of those things either, more like a plastic wrap.
It is funny sometimes yeah. One thing we call something else, but that other word used is used yet again for this and then some people use them interchangeably. All similar stuff by and large so it's not worlds apart.
My grandmother was born in 1900 and wouldn't even consider denim until the 1970s. She literally called it "worker clothes." Loved hearing the history of all of this!
The things that jump out at me are the haircut and THE SUNGLASSES!
When you are explaining that jeans are synonymous with working class, explains a lot. I was never person who owned jeans, indeed I hate them, and currently only have one pair. I know that I am middle class, but mentally, I have considered myself to be bourgeoisie. This mentality has not necessarily been my undoing as I am currently in Baby Step 4!
One guy decides to go casual and it haunts him for life. I really hope this guy's grandchildren come forward to identify him.
I like how the picture was taken in Vancouver, and your caption points out that Montreal was "nearby", even though sans plane ride it would take 3+ days to get to Montreal from Vancouver. I get that it's the same country, and maybe he is from Montreal, just funny to see someone call a city practically on the other side of the second biggest country in the world "nearby".
Lol yes. The M on his garment was probably an old hockey sweater like in the photo. I would say that it was more then 4 days. By train it is 24 hours to Edmonton. It was another 4 days by train to Montreal from there. Driving it in the 70s took me 4 days from Montreal to Edmonton and those were big new highways then.
The universe is expanding. In 'the olden days' Montreal was a 20 minute stroll away from Vancouver. Probably.
What? Whaaat?
It's truuuuue. I swear!
I laughed at that too! I'm from Montreal and it's faster to go to Europe than Vancouver 🤣
It's like saying New York is close to Los Angeles 😅
@@stiofanmacamhalghaidhau765 absolutely. Plate tectonics.
I recently went to the Gene Autry museum's Dress Codes exhibit, which is about the history of different garments (blue jeans/denim, flannel shirts, aloha/Hawaiian prints, and leather fringe) and their relationship to society. it was one of the most interesting exhibits i've ever been to!
The military knit undershirt with buttons was probably the first shirt called a Tshirt, it has a Dominant T shape within its design with the button panel being the column of the T. the latter button-less tshirt kept the same name and later the abdomen of shirt adapted itself to the column with the sleeves and shoulders being the bar.
I listen to a podcast called The History of American Food, and they mentioned Indigo as well as a very very common and cheap dye-- their mention was about sugar, and how sugar cones were almost universally wrapped in blue paper because that was the cheapest option.
I enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. About the zipper I am proud to say I'm from Slovenia, where one of the brilliant inventors Peter Florjančič (1919-2020) was from. Well he passed away in 2020, 101 years old. One of his inventions was also a plastic zipper (1948). He is a person you can google.
The twist is he is not a time traveler, but everyone else there is a time traveler, dressed for the era they visit, who went back to see if this guy was a time traveler.
Super interesting topic! Now that you've done all the research it would be cool to see a video with more of those "time travel" pictures debunked and explained.
When I was a child in the mid to late 70's the iteration of the hoodie was called a kangaroo jacket.
Interesting video. By the way, my younger coworker has a pair of sunglasses that look exactly like the glasses the man in the photo is wearing.😎
Thank you for this fascinating delve into casual clothing items. I really enjoyed watching it - and teasing my husband about his penchant for "vintage" formal shirts 😂
It's so weird knowing that I lived clothing history. I remember being an early teenager in the 70's and my parents looking for "cheap" jeans - the LA Levi outlet store being a new thing and we deliberately took a trip to go to the store so we (as a family) could save money on clothing - seeing that the outlet store were about $15 for a pair of jeans where the regular stores had jeans for $30 - 40.
On that fabric pricing sheet, is Barateen from the Spanish ‘barato’ meaning cheap/‘baratear’ to haggle for a lower price?
TIL it comes from the Greek ‘prattein’/πρἀττειν which I presume it evolved into the English word ‘barter’. I could be completely wrong of course but I found it interesting just the same.
I’ve always wanted to go to a costume party dressed up as that “time traveler” just to see if anybody there has a niche enough interest in historical/vintage fashion and as much of a useless amount of knowledge on internet phenomena as I do to recognize who I’m dressing up as. Most likely not, but a boy can dream lol
please let us know their reactions when you did it ^^
Interesting. My dad was born in 1927. I was norn in 1977. My entire life, I wore jeans, T-shirts and "hooded sweatshirts" as we called them here in Detroit. My dad grew up wearing "knickers" (short pants) and collared shirts until he went into the Navy in WW2. The standard issue for day to day aboard ship was "dungarees" (jeans) and plain white T-shirts and later on, shirts with the ship name printed on. After the war he liked the look and feel and just rocked that for the rest of his life. Obviously, he could clean up well, but that was the standard. Thanks for sharing.
So athleisure wear goes further back than we thought. I also noticed the word "leggings" in quite a few sources you featured in this video, though I suppose the meaning of that word has drastically changed quite a bit over time like the words "denim" and "jeans" have.
Yep! More often seen as leg coverings, not unlike spats or gaitors, but without the overshoe portion. My favorite term find on this video was the 1929 jeans advertisement that says "bell-bottom"! Had no clue it was so early a term.
I was digging through a 1913 knitting book the other day and found a pattern to knit "leggins" for a child. Not sure if that's how "leggings" was originally spelled or a typo or what, but it made me smile.
@@NicoleRudolph bell-bottoms were even older than that! they were designed for sailors in... the 1800s. As far as i know they were in existence prior to 1820 (though I can't remember if they were given that exact name), something I found out also long ago (around 1978-79) after reading a *really* badly written Michael Moorcock fantasy novel (my one and only by him) in which one or more sailors were referred to as wearing 'stylish flared pants' which felt so gratingly super-nope (there were a LOT of other crappy things in the story) in a novel about ancient lands and magic swords I went on a massive research binge. The research was a far more exciting adventure than the novel. Guess who ended up studying history at college a few years later... Love your 'I researched this topic and here's what I found' videos. No surprise.
@@stiofanmacamhalghaidhau765 Definitely early 19th century, with the Royal Navy officially adopting them as part of the uniform in the mid-19th century. I don’t know if the were referred to as bell-bottoms in the UK, but the wide-legged trousers were adopted because they could be rolled up easily and so were highly functional for sailors.
@@ReddBluGreen That's so interesting! I wonder which spelling came first.
Very informative, Nicole. My usual answer to the time traveller pictures is much easier than the history of jeans,T-shirts and hoodies. It is photoshop. Super easy to produce and present online or printed offfrom an online photo.
As for the undershirt, as a child in the 60's, assoon as the temperatures dropped, I was told to put my undershirt on - pretty much through the school year. Just recently while seeing if I could put on more layers for warmth, I remembered that was what we did in the 1960's. So I put on a T-shirt under my other layers.
I do recall the T-shirt becoming something to wear by itself. It was roughly used in the late 60's with the hippy years. If you were a hippy, or wanted to look like one, the T-shirt atleast was better than running around naked. It became the normal thing to wear and bandsstarted to print T-shirts for their fans. The youth culture (baby boomers) took control of adult clothing. No one wanted to be square.
Hoodies, hmm, I seem to recall a hooded coat in the late 60's. It was awesome since hats and mittens were usually lost. A hood was part of the windbreakers in the mid to late 60's. Jeans were commonly used for children and farmers. By the time I hit high school it was normal to wear jeans all the way to adults.
Another great, thorough and interesting video. On an unrelated note, I am often so in love with the blouses you wear in your videos and wish I knew where you got them, what fabric they're made of, if you made them yourself and if so, where I could find the pattern etc. I'd love a video breakdown of your personal wardrobe if possible.
I wear jeans, a flannel wood cutter's shirt, wool socks with white heels & toes and a wool beanie (toque) on a daily basis. All of this is totally the norm here in my Northern Canadian 🇨🇦 town and also all were worn here a century ago.
People who think he's a time traveler definitely aren't wrong for feeling like he doesn't fit in though. He certainly doesn't fit the landscape of the photo... either in dress or age when looking at the men. I can only see one or two females that look similar in age. I totally believe he probably worked on the bridge. Those are vintage welder's goggles, not sun glasses and the thick, zip up sweater (likely made of wool) and the sweater underneath (also likely made of wool) are perfectly ideal welding or riveters garments. You need to protect your chest, arms, and legs from flying sparks and need to be wearing fabric that isn't going to catch fire from the heat if you catch a spark. He's probably wearing denim pants and wool undergarments as well. As you know, wool will singe but strongly resists catching a flame and tight weave denim may smolder but it shouldn't burn through from a spark. So, I'm with the others in thinking he was probably a welder on the bridge or a riveter. (One of my dad's trades is welding, so I've had some lessons on how to properly dress if I wanted to keep him company either while he was soldering pipes together (he's also a plumber) or was welding things in the garage.)
If you look at the fabric textures and cut of the neckline it's pretty clear that he's wearing period accurate clothes. Heck, the cardigan he's wearing looks to be made of the same material as the woman in white in front of him is wearing.
Great video. I was wondering if you could talk about the fashion of the 'Wild West' or the frontier or whatever term you historians use. I'm very curious about it. It seems to be a blend of casual and Victorian and also a very sharp departure from anything you'd find on the East Coast. I'd love to hear your take on this.
Thank you Nicole for this deep dive. If you were ever interested, I'm sure if you reached out to Levi Strauss Co. they would be happy to help with some of their historical information.
All employees are given information on the founder, how the company started, and what the values were, are and will be etc; and how the designs changed over time; though the icons have stayed the same. The history is amazingly fascinating and something to really bite into :)
* not affiliated, sadly.
How Long Will I Love You? is a Chinese sci-fi, romance, mystery, time travel movie about 2 people who live in the same apartment, completely aware of the other, like roommates, but one is from 1999 and the other from 2017. They enter each year depending on which of them opens the door but any attempts to change the timeline destroys part of the present they're in.
Love Stoppage Time is a romance, sci-fi drama from Japan, each day at 12:15 time stops for the entire world except for two people but after an hour time resets and they have to find each other again. Both are a great experience for fans of time travel movies.
Interesting video👍, here in Sweden hoodies were called "munk jacka" translated "monk jacket" in the 70's. Still today some refer to them as such. I always assumed is because monks have hooded garments traditionally. I find it interesting how things get there names such as how you explain why it's called a zipper in English. We call it a " drag kedja" a "drag/pull chain". 😊
During WW2 US military services issued screen printed tee shirts, as did the different civilian and service work groups. Also many universities had screen printed t-shirts. A difference in these vintage tee shirts is that they were made on loop-wheel “body-size” looms that wove a tube without side seams.
How is Nicole so Relaxing?! This vid was wonderful.
This was really interesting. I used to have a long sleeved undershirt that had cotton on the side next to my skin and wool on the outside. Just the opposite of what was done a long time ago. It was the warmest shirt I have ever had and I was so sad when I grew out of it. I haven't been able to find another undershirt like it since. In our house, growing up, blue jeans was a serious no no, as our Mother thought only wayward kids and especially girls wore them. Side note...I watched this video right after I watched Abby's third installment of " The Girls drink while answering viewers questions'. It was quite the change of atmosphere! Loved them both. You must be missing her terribly, but there is always Zoom or Facetime. Thank you for this history lesson. I learned alot. I wonder though if this fellow was just photoshopped into the photo? Your thoughts? Thanks!
Try LL Bean. They have a double layer cotton lined union suit. I didn't check to see if they had two piece long underwear in double layer. But it's worth a shot.
@@MelissaThompson432 Thank you. I will look at their site.!
As someone who helps design t shirts I appreciate this more than I thought
Great dissection! It drives me nuts when people claim they see someone using a cell phone in old photographs/paintings and claim it's a time traveller. There was no cellular network or wifi, so their phone would be completely useless in that context.
Thinking back to the popularity of printed t shirts in the 70's, it seems strange to me that we used to go to a mall, find a store with nothing but printed Ts on display, purchase our shirts and have the printed right there. I can still remember the smell of those hot plastic transfers. Mom loved them, especially her nightshirt that said "I have abandoned my search for reality and am now looking for a good fantasy."
Your doggie melted my heart ❤🎉
in 1988 marine bootcamp part of the dress issue is both a short sleeve and full sleeve pull-over wool shirt.
PBS just did a show on Denim. It starred my personal heroine Rabbit Goody, textile historian and weaver. This is all fascinating and a good topic to discuss from different points of view. - Danielle
There are quite a few examples of silkscreened T shirts being made during WW2, with various training camps, and unit designations on them.
My grandma was born in 1926 and grew up on a farm. She said that her and her siblings usually wore things like jeans and sweatshirts for doing farm work because they were easy to move in, durable, and could get dirty without getting ruined. Usually they would dress up to go into town (dresses, skirts, nice trousers for the men/boys, etc). But sometimes they would have to run into town while working to get feed, tractor parts, veterinary supplies, and so on, and they usually didn't bother changing because they were busy. So I don't think it was terribly uncommon to see people in this casual attire in those days.